Devil At Midnight by Emma Holly

Author:Emma Holly [Midnight, Devil At]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Horror, Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425237816
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-11-02T04:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Why not allow Lavaux to lead your second mount tonight?” Gregori suggested to Mistress Wei. “He is excellent with animals.”

Christian’s head jerked up from buckling his shin greaves in place. His hips were resting on a boulder beside the road. All around him, Nim Wei’s little train of hired men were similarly hooking into light armor. Though Gregori’s manner had been offhand, Christian’s weren’t the only eyes that snapped upward.

“If Lavaux is good with animals, my mother was a goat,” Charles muttered next to him. “Your father must think any man who leads Nim Wei’s horse will end up playing her stallion.”

This had been the minstrel’s pattern thus far: first Charles and then William going to her two nights running. She had selected no companion the following night, and then Charles had done the honors a second time. Hans had walked her mount after that, though he claimed not to have been bedded. Woman only wanted to play chess, he had said upon emerging from her sumptuous tent. Beat me in a dozen moves, damn her eyes.

Christian was not certain he believed the gruff veteran. Hans had remained with the minstrel nearly as long as the other men. He had come out seeming absentminded rather than drunk, but he, too, had taken up Charles’s and William’s habit of caressing their necks. Christian wondered if the gesture was due to some philter she had them drink. Did the feeling linger in their throats after they lost the memory of quaffing it? Or perhaps it related to a carnal practice Christian was unable to imagine. Something about the gesture struck him as sexual.

“I wonder why my father wants her to take Lavaux.”

“That is easy,” Charles said. “She has favored only your men till now. It makes it look as if his are less desirable.”

Christian supposed this could be the reason; some of those who had not been chosen were beginning to grumble. Unfortunately, this seemed too simple a motivation for Christian’s sire. He thought it more likely that Gregori wanted to puzzle out what Nim Wei was doing, and hoped Lavaux would serve as his informant.

If this was true, would his father fare better than Christian had? William’s behavior had not cleared up the mystery. Though he mentioned his battle bruises had healed quickly, he had performed no great feats of valor. Christian thought he might have been a bit haler than usual. His appetite was hearty, and the other night he had carried two large wine butts up a slope without help. The problem was, William was so strong already that this was unexceptional. Overall, William had seemed both quiet and happy, whistling softly to himself as they tramped through the mountain-shadowed Valle D’Aosta.

Being calm and happy was benign enough, and yet it disturbed Christian. If Nim Wei were poisoning his men, what could be more ominous than her venom tasting sweet to them?

But maybe he was too suspicious. Any man might whistle, if he had been blessed with two lengthy trysts in a woman’s arms.

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